Such a protection device is disclosed in EP 1 084 907 A2. The known protection device has guiding rails on opposite side walls of a loading compartment as guiding tracks, wherein a respective entrainer is guided. The protection device is provided with a flexible protective structure which is mounted to be windable and unwindable on a winding shaft. The flexible protective structure includes a dimensionally stable pull-out profile on a face end region that is in front in the pull-out direction, which profile is held in retaining devices associated with the entrainers and acting in a force-limited manner, in order to be displaced alongside the guiding rails and, thus, alongside the loading compartment.